


stuck in the middle

by YukinaMika



Series: 2020 [6]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Dead but brought back, Just stuck in limbo, Like they are both dead and alive, Not exactly character deaths, but not entirely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:13:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23023816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YukinaMika/pseuds/YukinaMika
Summary: Marinette wakes up in a strange place and there is a boy she has never seen before.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Jason Todd
Series: 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593016
Comments: 6
Kudos: 232





	stuck in the middle

**Author's Note:**

> This is a friendly reminder to read the tags.

She wakes up with a gasp, feeling like her heart is about to explode. Her palms feel clammy as she heaves out each breath like air is something she is trying to grasp onto. A shudder tears through her body, rattles her to the bones and she curls into herself, tears prickling at the corner of her eyes as pain wrecks her body like her internal organs are trying to rearrange themselves.

Something happened. To her. Something has happened to her because last time she checked, there was an akuma and Ladybug is needed in Paris, not at whatever this place is.

“First time is always the worst,” sounds and the whisper of clothes follows. She looks up to see concerned blue eyes peering back at her as the boy slides a hand under her shoulder and slowly, helping her sit up. “You’ll feel better after a while.”

Did her ears deceive her or did he just say ‘First time’? Wha-?! What kind of first time did he mean?!

Her mouth opens and closes but no word comes out. Invisible sand seems to be scarping her throat. Her tongue feels like stone as she tries to remember what exactly has happened to her.

She was in Paris. There was an akuma. A guitarist. Something that has to do with Jagged Stone. She got the Snake Miraculous for Adrien. And then- Wait! She was Ladybug then. And if she is here, wherever here is, then- Tikki! Where is Tikki!?

“Where is this place?” Her voice pitches, sounding almost hysterical as she grabs at his sleeve and only then does she realize that this boy is dressed in some ridiculous clothes of red, yellow and green. A traffic-light-themed costume if she has ever seen on. Was she transported away to some kind of carnival?

The look he shoots her seems almost like pity and an invisible stone drops in her stomach. Something is wrong. Horribly wrong.

“I need you not to freak out, okay?” He says and it takes everything in her to just keep her mouth close, regulate her breathing and just, nod. He seems placated. Which is good.

She needs information. Needs to find out where this place is. Needs to know where Tikki is. Needs to know how long has she been gone from Paris. Chat Noir still hasn’t shown up and Adrien is still inexperienced. With no one to guide him and watch his back, Aspik is vulnerable.

“Do you know where souls go after death?” Uhm… No? Like no one knows and the only ones who do are dead? Weird question- Wait, does this mean- “Yeah, it’s exactly like what you’re thinking.”

“I’m dead?” She did agree not to freak out but really, how could one not flip out in this situation? “And… you’re dead… too?”

Really, she deserves a reward for not screeching like a banshee and passing out from overload of information.

“I’m not exactly dead?” and the boy winces like this whole dead-and-alive thing is not binary. Either you are alive or you are dead. Zombies aren’t real.

But wait! Marinette is here. With him. And he is, according to himself, not dead. So where does that leave her? Straddling the line between dead and alive?

Apparently, she makes some high pitched noises because the boy, whose name she still has not learned, starts rubbing her back. Thankfully, he does not make some kind of cooing noises because that would be weird. And awkward.

“So am I dead or not?” She needs to know. Desperately. “Because from where I stand, this whole dead-or-alive thing is pretty binary.”

“I wish things are that simple,” he says and what the heck? “Listen, this place is limbo. The void. The middle ground between death and life.”

“And we’re stuck here?” is her horrified question.

Imagine being stuck in an infinity black plain that runs forever and ever. Imagine walking and walking forever, looking for something and the void greets you with silence and nothingness. Imagine darkness, eternally drowning in the shadows.

“Probably not forever,” is his answer. Which is legit seeing as he is still here, is he not?

It is a positive thought. And she allows herself to think of it because if she is dead, or not-dead, whatever that boy wants to call this state is, she might as well have something to look forward to.

It would be dull with just this boy as a companion but this is not forever. Nothing is.

One day this boy would see his family again. And she would meet her parents again and see their faces light up again. And-

Wait! Her parents! They didn’t know. They thought she was at Juleka’s. They knew nothing about her being Ladybug.

Neither do the rest of her class. They thought she was hanging out with their classmates. She still has so many things planned with them.

And Tikki! Poor Tikki… What will happen to her? She is still in her Ladybug spandex and the earrings are still on her ears but the real ones are probably on her body. Who will take on the Ladybug mantle?

And Master Fu! Her partners! They didn’t know. They didn’t know. They probably would think of her as lazy or incompetent. They would not know until someone finds her body.

Her body! What state will it be in when it is found? Will it be Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s or will it be Ladybug’s? Or will it be found at all? She had been Ladybug when she died and for all she knows, her body could just randomly combust after her death.

A hand petting her head jerks her away from all the scenarios her mind comes up and she nearly jumps only to collide into her only companion in this blank plane.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” he offers and wow, what an understatement. “But honestly, I swear! You aren’t completely dead yet!”

“Excuse you but you are either alive or you are dead. There is no in between.”

“This is the plane of existence between life and death,” he says with a wave at the darkness that runs forever. “The fact that we are here pretty much means we aren’t dead. We are very much alive but one of our feet is in death’s door. I would know. I have been here longer than you.”

Well, it isn’t like he was wrong. He was already at her side when pain still wrecked her body.

“My name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng and I was a Parisian hero called Ladybug,” she says, extending a figurative olive branch. “Nice to meet you, traffic light boy.”

“Jason Todd and I was a hero called Robin in Gotham. Also, watch who you’re calling traffic light boy! You're wearing a red and black-spotted spandex!”

**Author's Note:**

> Just an idea I got before falling asleep.
> 
> Basically Jason came back but a part of him is stuck in limbo. Marinette died in some timelines, you know, the ones where Second Chance just rebooted the whole thing and saved her but she's still stuck there.
> 
> But like every time one of them comes close to death, the one in limbo gets their memories. Like a document in Word. You just add and then Ctrl + S. The ones in limbo are the post-Ctrl + S document. The ones living are like the pre-Ctrl + S version. A brush with death is like Ctrl + S.
> 
> P. S. I did say I would write fluff this week and I also told myself that I would not write Jason Todd but here we are.
> 
> P. P. S. I miss writing one-shots.
> 
> Goodnight and sweet dreams! ∩__∩


End file.
